The Best Time of My Life: Portraits of Women in Mid-life
1985 · 58m · Canada
Directed by Patricia Watson
Genres: documentary
Tones: contemplative, tender
Women from varied backgrounds speak candidly about menopause and middle age, at work and at home, challenging common fears and stereotypes about this stage of life.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
A well-meaning doc that does exactly what it sets out to do — which is precisely the problem. Watson's approach is so earnest and straightforward that it cancels out any real friction; menopause becomes a box to check rather than a genuinely disorienting rupture worth interrogating.
Watson's decision to let these women speak without narrative scaffolding situates itself squarely in the observational documentary tradition, and the formal restraint — long takes, minimal intervention — dignifies the testimony in a way that feels both rigorous and necessary for its moment in '85.
The real lift here is Watson's choice to let silence and space breathe between speakers, trusting viewers to make their own connections rather than stitching it all together with voiceover; that trust in the audience's intelligence becomes the film's quiet formal signature.